Anything But Ordinary
by bauerfreak
Summary: Sequel to Fall to Pieces. Four years later, Lauren's still a skank, Maddie's in her turbulent teens, Cody's performing his duty as annoying little brother. OMG!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: After a 3 month break…Fall to Pieces is back! Yay rah! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the original. This takes place four years after the original, and this chapter should update you on all the characters. I hope you enjoy, and please please review!_

_Shameless promotions: Don't forget to read & review Friends With Benefits (if you're over 17!). Also, check out Cheaper By the Dozen and Symphony of Change, which I'm cowriting with lostladyknight. (Symphony is under llk's profile). Thanks again llk for your help with plot ideas! You rocketh!_

The scene was boringly familiar, as Madeline waited in her used 2002 Honda Accord outside The Meadows School, waiting for her four year old half-sister, Callie, to get out of preschool for the day. Windows up, she had Soulja Boy's_ Crank Dat _playing at about half-blast, knowing the parents that were waiting in all the cars around her were completely anal about annoying teenagers blasting their music, especially rap. Madeline wouldn't want to corrupt anyone else's children, after all. She couldn't believe that her mother had actually decided to send her daughter to such a place. It was filled with yuppies and obsessive parents and teachers, and half the kids were snobs. All that aside, it was one of Madeline's duties to pick up her half-sister and stepbrother from school usually one or two days a week. Ten year old Cody was already in the backseat, after being picked up from the elementary school.

"Are they talking about sex?" Cody asked his now stepsister from the backseat of the car as he played on his Nintendo DS and listened to Maddie's rap song on the radio. If Maddie had to chauffeur her stepbrother around, she was going to at least listen to the type of music she wanted. Plus, Cody was ten years old and had heard way worse on television and his pipsqueak friends at school.

Madeline's eyes shot up to look in the rearview mirror. "Cody, be quiet! Why do you have to ask so many questions? Just chill."

"It's just a question. I don't think my mom would approve of you playing this while I'm in the car." He pointed out, well aware of the house rules.

"Well, she's not my mom, so I guess I don't really have to worry about that, do I?" She pointed out as the doors of the school opened and tons of kids started to stream out in perfect classroom lines. Maddie would go crazy at a school like this.

"Well, Dad would care." Cody pointed out, matter-of-factly. After their parents had gotten married two years before, Cody began to take his role of annoying little brother very seriously. He'd slipped into the role with very little problem, and regularly caused his sixteen year old sister trouble.

"You're not gonna tell him, because if you do, you'll be walking home from now on."

That shut the fifth grader up, who turned back to his game on his Nintendo. The last four years had been a smattering of change for both Madeline and Cody. Two years ago, their parents had tied the knot quietly in a small wedding in town. Sara and Cody moved into Nick's house immediately afterwards, and their life as a blended family had officially begun. The change hadn't been without its fair share of uneasiness, resentment, and confusion on everyone's part, but especially Madeline's. After the confusion of her parents' divorce, her mother's failed attempts at reconciliation, and her subsequent near-kidnapping, Madeline wasn't sure what to think of Sara. Sara had been understanding and patient with her new stepdaughter, but the last few years hadn't been without a few clashes.

Maddie's life had also been complicated further when her mother moved back to Las Vegas four years ago with her daughter, Callie. Her relationship with Jake hadn't lasted long, and from nearly day one, Lauren had been a single mother. Soon after Callie's birth, the strain of raising a child alone had become too much, so she moved back to be closer to her own mother, and to Nick and Madeline. Nick hadn't been pleased at all at first, but Madeline was excited about having a new baby half-sister, and bonded with her quickly. Their bond had only grown stronger over the years, as Madeline fell witness to her mother's less-than-stellar parenting practices. Last month, Lauren had very hastily become engaged to her boyfriend of six months, Howard. He was at least a decent father figure to Callie, but with Lauren's temperament, who knew how long he would stay around. Throughout all the family drama, Maddie was Callie's rock, and her role model.

Madeline smirked and turned off the radio as she saw Callie approach the car, her blonde, perfectly curled hair bouncing at her shoulders. Lauren always made sure that her daughter looked immaculate, had the best clothes, and the best education, but couldn't really be bothered to bond or spend time with the precocious four year old. She thought providing for her was enough, but no amount of money could come close in comparison to having a good relationship with a parent. Lauren spent time with her daughters when it was convenient for her. Luckily for Madeline, she had a wonderful, caring father in Nick, but alas, Callie's father was never around. Every time Madeline saw her half-sister, she couldn't help but think about this, and it broke her heart every time.

"Hi, Callie!" Madeline greeted her little sister as she climbed into her booster seat in the back seat next to Cody. The teacher who had escorted her waved to Madeline and shut the door.

"Hi, Madeline." She chimed back as she reached for her seat belt to her right, but had a little trouble. Madeline turned around, seeing her little tongue poking out the side of her mouth in concentration.

"Cody, can you help her?" She asked her stepbrother. Cody nodded and leaned over to assist his…well, he wasn't quite sure the precise title Callie had in relation to him. She was his stepsister's half-sister. Callie came to their house sometimes when Lauren was desperate for a baby-sitter. Nick had occasionally watched her over the years, though he always made it quite clear that it was not to become a regular occurrence.

Callie accepted his help up until the belt was ready to be clicked into place. She liked to do that part, and Cody was well aware. As soon as the buckle got close enough, he let Callie take hold of it so she could click it into place. Madeline put the car into drive and was about to pull out of the circle when they all felt a hard jolt from behind, whipping their bodies forward.

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Nick and Sara Stokes both stood in the break room Thursday afternoon refilling their coffee cups to start the second half of their shift. Both had already been out to a crime scene and were now preparing to log in and analyze all the evidence they had collected. Sara sighed loudly as she poured herself some decaf.

"I really could use some caffeine right now." She told her husband next to her, who had the privilege of indulging in regular caffeinated coffee. Nick smirked as he set the kettle down and leaned over to press a kiss to her temple, and then moved behind her. His strong arms embraced her, his hands coming to settle on the slight bulge at her stomach.

"I know, darlin'. I'm sorry you can't." He whispered as he nuzzled her hair and breathed in the scent of her. His beautiful wife was now three months pregnant, and looking amazing as ever.

"Mmmmhmmm. Sure you are." Sara teased him back, resting her own hands on top of his. It was one of her husband's favorite things to do, putting his hands on her pregnant belly. Sara wasn't complaining. Ever since they'd started dating seriously four years ago, he'd had trouble keeping his hands off her body, and now that she was pregnant, it was like an obsession. Every spare moment he had, it seemed Nick's hands or ears or mouth were on her belly. That child was sure going to be well acquainted with its father.

Nick chuckled softly into her ear and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You're beautiful."

Sara slowly turned in his arms, and though they weren't supposed to at work, planted a soft, tender kiss on his lips. Nick let his hands sit on her hips as he returned the kiss slowly, taking his time. After a few moments, they pulled away just as static started to sound on the police radio that was sitting on the break room table.

An unknown voice began to speak over the radio as Nick and Sara reached again for their coffee mugs. "I need an officer down at the Meadows School right away. The school secretary has reported a rear-ending in the pick-up circle. The driver is sixteen years old, with a ten year old boy and four year old girl in the backseat."

Most of the time, Nick and Sara didn't pay much attention to the police radio because that wasn't really their scene. However, the location the accident had been reported at, and the ages of the three children involved definitely caught their attention.

"The Meadows?" Sara looked at her husband. "Is it Maddie's day to pick up the kids?"

Nick furrowed his eyebrows and pulled his cell phone off his belt clip. "Yeah, I think it is. Let me call her real quick."

Sara's mind start racing with worry as Nick dialed Madeline's number and waited for her to answer. After four rings, she hadn't picked up, and her voicemail message came on. Nick began to leave a message as Sara snatched up the police radio and clicked the button that allowed her to talk.

"This is Officer Sara Stokes with the LVPD Crime Lab. Can you tell me the names of the passengers in the car that was rear-ended at The Meadows?"

Nick finished leaving the message and snapped his phone shut as Sara waited for an answer over the radio. He put his hand on her back and rubbed gently to calm her down, though he was just as nervous and worried as she apparently was. After no one answered for ten seconds, Sara was getting upset.

"Someone answer me!" She demanded.

The static buzzed again, and the voice came on again. "Officer Stokes?" The voice answered. "I've got the three kids here with me. Their names are Madeline, Cody, and Callie."

Sara's fingers nervously touched her temples as Nick's arm closed around her shoulder. "How are they doing? Are they alright?"

"We're having them checked out now, but all their injuries seem minor. The boy seems to have a small bruise on his shoulder, and the little girl bit her tongue. Otherwise, they're just a little shaken up."

Sara let out a sigh of relief that they were apparently unharmed apart for some minor injuries. "Okay. I'm Cody and Maddie's mom. Tell them that their father and I will get there soon, and we're calling Callie's mom."

"Copy that. We'll see you soon."

"Oh my God, Nick." Sara turned and was immediately embraced by her husband. Though it was very likely all the kids were just fine, it was still unsettling. It was every parent's worst nightmare to hear that their child had been in an accident, no matter how minor.

"It's okay, Sar. You heard the officer. They're fine." He kissed her forehead and began steering her towards the door. "I'm gonna go tell Grissom we need to leave, and I'll meet you at the car, okay?"

They stopped in the opening of the doorway, where they would both need to go separate ways. Sara nodded, still looking every bit as worried as she was. Nick squeezed her hand reassuringly. "They're fine."

Nick quickly strode towards Grissom's office as Sara headed the other way. Truthfully, Madeline driving made him really nervous. Any parent with a new driver probably got nervous about their child being behind the wheel. Even knowing that Maddie was fairly decent driver, there was so much that she couldn't control, like a driver rear-ending her, and that scared the crap out of him. With everything that was unknown and predictable in the world, especially Las Vegas, it was terrifying for Nick trying to let his daughter grow up and be independent.

After clearing things with Grissom, Nick quickly strode out to his Denali, taking his cell phone out again in the process to call Lauren. He tried to have as little contact with her as possible, but he thought her two children being involved in an accident, no matter how minor, kind of required him to call her. Lauren also preferred not being contacted by Nick unless it was absolutely necessary, which was readily apparent in the way she answered.

"What?"

"Hi, it's me."

"I realize that, Nick. I'm in a very important meeting. Can this wait?"

Nick shook his head as he strode out to the parking lot. "No, it can't. They're all fine, but Madeline's car got rear ended when she picked up Callie from school. Sara and I are heading over there now, and I just thought you'd want to know and maybe come be with Callie."

Lauren sighed heavily and rubbed her hand over her forehead in frustration. "They're all okay?"

"Yes. And we're going to the school now."

"Look, Nick. I'm glad they're okay and everything, but I really don't have the time to come down there right now. I'm swamped."

Nick reached his Denali and had to shake his head in disgust once again. He should have known that Lauren still hadn't changed. Nick was having trouble remembering why he even bothered sometimes. Callie and Madeline deserved better in a mother, but there wasn't much he could do about that. The last few years and the birth of a new baby had done little to change Lauren's principles in any positive way. She was still self-centered, egotistical and not focused enough on her kids.

"And you don't think Sara and I are swamped at the lab?" Nick retorted as he turned the ignition. Sara could instantly tell who her husband was talking to by the tone of his voice. She placed a hand on her stomach and let out a calming breath as Nick began to pull out of the parking space. She was relieved that he began to drive fast, anxious as she was to get to their children. "These are your children we're talkin' about, Lauren."

The woman let out a childish grunt and rolled her eyes. "Well, you're gonna be there, so they'll be fine." She figured, honestly. Though they were divorced, Lauren still trusted her ex implicitly and knew her kids were safe in his hands. When it was inconvenient for her to be there for her kids, Nick was always a phone call away. "So, please. If she needs to go to the hospital, take her. Otherwise, just have Maddie drop her off at her after-school daycare."

Before Nick could even argue, Lauren had hung up. He turned the phone off and chucked it onto the ground, letting out a frustrated string of profanities. It was one thing to be a complete skank to an adult, and quite another to completely ignore her children when they needed her most. Nick guessed he shouldn't really be surprised.

"She's not coming?" Sara guessed by her husband's reaction. She reached over to pat his thigh in hopes of calming him down, but little would pacify him when Lauren got him worked up. That's why they didn't talk to the woman except when they needed to discuss something about Maddie.

Nick just shook his head. There was nothing really that could be said. Within a few minutes, they had pulled up to The Meadows School, where a police officer was already pulled up to file a report. They instantly spied the three children sitting on one of the school's benches, frowns on their faces, as the nurse tended to them. Nick quickly found a spot to ditch the Denali and they both hurried over to their children.

"Mom!" Cody called out as he saw his mother approaching, looking entirely too worried. They'd all felt a moderate jolt from behind, and their necks were just a tad bit sore, but other than that they felt fine. Callie had a crying bout for a few minutes after biting her tongue, but after being held in Madeline's lap, she had recovered well. After the initial shock had worn out, the kids were doing just fine.

Sara embraced her son in a tight hug, bending down so he didn't have to stand up just yet. "Ohh, Cody. I was so worried." She confessed. Sara was a known worrywart when it came to her children, especially Cody. With those glasses and his small stature, he still looked so breakable.

"I'm fine, Mom." He assured her, but hugged her back warmly. Cody knew his mom well enough to let her have her moment with the hugging and kissing. "It was just a little bump."

Sara pulled back and knelt down so she could get a good look at her son. Her hands instantly went to his neck to gently cradle it. "How's your neck feel, baby?"

"It's a little sore, but the nurse said it'll go away…"

"I'm taking you to the hospital." She decided, standing up to look at Nick, sure he would be reaching the same conclusion. He was knelt down in front of Madeline, while the nurse was still talking to little Callie. Madeline was moving her head from side to side a little, as if to assess how much discomfort she was having.

"Maddie, don't irritate it any more." Nick instructed her gently, reaching up to put his hand on the side of her neck, effectively stilling it. He sighed heavily and studied Madeline's face.

"Dad, would you stop worrying?" She begged him, sick of everyone going all spastic over what was a very minor wreck. "I've done worse in gymnastics. This is nothing."

"I'm just trying to be cautious, sweetheart. If you're hurt, we need to get you…"

"I'm not hurt." She cut him off. "I think I know my body well enough, and have been injured enough to realize when I need medical help."

Nick looked to his right to observe the school's RN finishing her examination of Callie. She gave the four year old a few reassuring words and then stood up to face Nick.

"Mr. Stokes, I'm Mrs. Jenkins, the school nurse here." Nick shook her hand and waited for her to continue. "I've checked out all three children, and they all appear to be just fine. The driver behind them was only going a couple miles an hour, so the collision just bumped their bodies forward a little. Other than some minor neck pain, and Callie biting her tongue, I'd say they're just fine."

"Would you recommend taking them to the hospital as a precaution?" He asked, not wanting to take any chances when it came to his children.

"Well, you could, but I really don't think it's necessary. I would recommend they don't do any strenuous activity for the rest of the day."

As the nurse talked to Nick, Callie stood up and wandered over to where Nick was standing, wrapping her arms around his middle. Even though he wasn't her father, Callie had become very attached to him over the years, probably because he was practically the only good male role model in her life. Nick gently stroked Callie's hair as he listened to the nurse, which calmed the girl. Though he had to be firm with Lauren about not shoving parental responsibilities on him, Nick truthfully adored the little girl and would never have the heart to shut her out of his life. He liked to think of their relationship as an uncle/niece type of arrangement.

Nick finished up his conversation with the nurse and then looked down at Callie, who stared up at him with wide, innocent eyes. "C'mere, you little booger." He smirked and picked her up into his arms. Callie wrapped her arms around his neck as he hitched her up and giggled, which he supposed was a good sign.

"Nick, I TOLD you I'm not a booger." She told him quite firmly, though she knew he was joking. At age four, she was already developing quite a sense of humor, and a fair amount of sassiness.

"Yeah, you are." He told her, then turned to Sara before she could argue. "Sar, I think we better just get them home to relax for the afternoon. The nurse said no strenuous activity."

Sara was still looking a bit worried, one hand perched on her hip. Cody was now completely relaxed, not showing any sign of being bothered, as he got back to his Nintendo DS. "You don't think we should take them to the hospital?"

Nick shrugged his free shoulder as Callie played with his shirt collar. "The nurse said it wasn't necessary."

"She's a nurse."

"She's an RN, Sara."

Madeline interrupted. "And I'm gonna be late for practice. Can we go?"

"Maddie, the nurse said no vigorous activity. Gymnastics is out." Nick informed her.

Madeline looked completely heartbroken and instantly argumentative, like he knew she would. Not only did she hate missing practice for the gymnastics part, but she also had quite the thing for one of the assistant coaches. The head coach's son, Gavin, had been permanently sidelined from the sport with a spinal fracture last year. Now, at eighteen, he was helping out at the gym wherever his father needed him. He helped out mostly with the boys, but also with the elite girls, which Madeline was now apart of. Madeline already knew him from training at the gym, and they also went to the same high school up until he graduated the year before. Bringing a good looking teenage boy into the mix was definitely not a good idea in Nick's book. He was a polite enough kid, but Nick paid good money for her to take gymnastics lessons and thought Gavin was more of a distraction than a help. Plus, he'd seen the way Maddie and Gavin looked at each other. Trouble lied ahead.

"Dad! Why?" Her tone was slightly whiny.

"Maddie, don't whine." Nick told her as he adjusted Callie on his hip. "Flipping around in the air isn't gonna help your neck at all. Taking one day off is not the end of the world."

"Yea, it is." She mumbled, and sighed loudly.

Cody snorted in laughter, keeping his eyes focused on his game as he stood up as the family started walking. "It's because she won't get to make out with Gaaavin."

Madeline punched her brother in the arm. It really hurt. Cody had learned she punched pretty hard for a girl. "Shut UP!"

Nick smirked, knowing full well what teenagers thought about and probably did. He still hoped his teenager didn't, but he wasn't naïve. All he could do was have open conversations with her and keep a close eye on her. Madeline was unlucky enough to acquire a new little brother at this stage in her life, when he could cause her an enormous amount of embarrassment.

"Madeline, you can call him later. You're all gonna have an early night. And no punching." He raised his eyebrows in her direction.

Since the police report had already been filed, they were all free to leave. Sara decided she would drive Madeline's car home just in case.

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Later in the evening, after everyone had gone to bed, and Callie had gone home, Madeline sat at her desk completing homework. Even though she hadn't been allowed to go to gymnastics practice (even though she felt _perfectly_ fine), she still procrastinated doing her work until the last minute. That's just the way Madeline functioned. She was a very intelligent kid, but had never been that interested in school, especially now that she had Gavin to focus on. Who freaking cared about sines and cosines, Economics, and the theme of _Wuthering Heights _when she had a perfect male specimen actively wooing her? Did her trig homework really stand a chance when she could instead be texting Gavin?

Her cell phone vibrated again as she finished a math problem, and she instantly grinned, knowing who it was. She opened it up and frowned. It was from her father in the next room and read, "Go to bed". Madeline shook her head but had to grin as she texted him back. It said "Let me drop trig and I will".

About fifteen minutes later, her cell phone vibrated again. Maddie was more cautious in getting excited this time, but she didn't have to be. She could clearly hear her father now snoring in the next room. This time, the text was from Gavin, and it read "Open ur window." She grinned widely and stood up first to turn out her light, then very quietly walked to the window and opened it. Without a second thought in the world, she carefully crept out onto the slanted roof outside her window and made her way to the edge. As usual, Gavin was standing right below to help her down, using a piece of trellis on the side of the house for extra support. She was soon in his arms, her favorite place in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Muchos gracias for the reviews. Happy Monday! Yayyyy…_

A dull throbbing pain slowly coaxed Madeline out of sleep the next day long before her alarm clock started beeping. Her first thought was that she'd slept on it wrong. She'd woken up before with a crick in her neck, but as she began to slip more and more into consciousness, Maddie realized it wasn't that. It was from the accident.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." She muttered as she sat up in bed and rubbed her hand over the back of her neck. Yesterday, it had just hurt a little bit, but now it really ached. This was not good. Maddie slung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up, hoping getting up and moving around would help it out. Missing one day of gymnastics was bad enough. If she missed another, flipping around was really going to kick her ass. It wasn't long before her next competition.

The sound of the shower going in the master bathroom reminded Madeline that if Sara or her father suspected her neck wasn't feeling right, they definitely wouldn't let her train that afternoon. They'd probably make her go get an x-ray also. It was probably just a little morning time pain, and her neck had flared up overnight. If she was extra careful during the day and didn't push it, hopefully she'd be alright after school.

Fifteen minutes later, Madeline was out of the shower, her hair swept up underneath a giant white towel. She had very carefully maneuvered it on top of her head, wincing slightly when it slipped to the right a little bit. As she opened the door to walk towards the stairs, she almost bumped into her younger brother. Instead of yelling at him, all she could muster was an apathetic yawn. Cody rolled his eyes and watched her for a moment as she made her way to the stairs.

"What, are you worn out from last night?" Cody bit back a knowing smirk. He had lately embraced his role as annoying little brother, and didn't deny that he snooped around and spied on her a little. Truth be told, he completely idolized Nick and wanted to be just like him. Investigating was part of that. Now was as good a time as ever to start honing his investigative skills. Plus, getting Maddie in trouble could be somewhat entertaining and it really wasn't all that difficult. Thanks to his sleuthing skills, Cody had quite the dirt on his older sister – everything from texting while she drove, to sneaking out, to bad grades.

Madeline narrowed her eyes at the younger boy, unsure of what the kid knew. Cody could be quite the creep sometimes. "What are you talking about, anal dweller?"

Cody wasn't fazed. "I saw you go out the window, and I saw you kissing Gavin!" He made kissy sounds, closing his eyes for effect, but was slightly startled when he felt a hand grab his pajama top and push him into the bathroom. Moments later, the door slammed and he was sitting on the toilet seat with a stern faced Madeline towering over him. Sure, she was a girl, but thanks to years of gymnastics, she sure had some muscles.

"Let go of me, Hulk!" He struggled against her, but Maddie didn't relent.

"If you don't mind your own business and keep your mouth shut, I'll show Dad your little collection of Victoria's Secret magazines you think are hidden under your bed."

Cody's mouth gaped for a moment, and he couldn't think of anything to say. He could feel his face turning red. He was always so careful with his magazines. At the age of ten, he was starting to get very curious about the opposite sex, and had managed to get his hands on a few racy magazines. A knock on the door saved Cody from further embarrassment.

"Cody, are you in there?" Nick's voice asked from outside the closed door, fresh from his shower in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Y-yeah, Dad. I'll be right out." He stammered as he stood up, eying his older sister suspiciously. Madeline let him go and quickly turned to leave the bathroom. When Nick saw his daughter come out first, he was a little puzzled.

"What are you doin'?" He asked as she moved past him.

"Nothing, Dad." She replied dismissively as she took her first step down the stairs.

"Hey." He called out to her, causing her to stop reluctantly, anticipating a lecture. "Did you get all your homework done last night?"

Madeline winced at the question, and that was pretty much all Nick needed to see. It was quite frequent that Maddie spent breakfast time doing unfinished homework, or had to secretly do homework for one class in another class. Her gymnastics schedule was insane, and a lot of girls in her level actually home schooled or had private tutors. Plus, her involvement with Gavin didn't exactly free up her time. Last night, she probably could've finished her homework if she hadn't snuck outside to make out with him.

"Not exactly." She told him. "I've only got a little, though. I promise."

Nick nodded, and sighed a little to himself as he walked over to the banister. He worried about the intensity of Madeline's schedule. The last thing he wanted was for her to have no free time for herself and get stressed out. However, he also wanted her to have as normal a life as possible. He'd always been against pulling her out of school because of gymnastics, but in the elite level, it was next to impossible to stay in public school and compete regularly. Maddie had come to terms with the possibility, but Nick wasn't sure she realized all she'd be giving up.

"How's your neck?"

"Fine." She answered right away. If it bothered her right before practice, she wouldn't train – Madeline wasn't stupid and knew not to push it if she was truly injured. Her dad was too much of a worry-wart, and would call off practice now if she admitted to any pain. The way her father was looking at her – like he was scrutinizing her honesty – caused her to continue. "Seriously, Dad. I won't practice if it bothers me."

Nick nodded, raising his eyebrows a bit. "Make sure you don't. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I know, Dad. I'll be careful." She promised him, taking another step down, hoping he'd let her go without any more probing questions. It was easy to get caught in a lie if she wasn't careful.

Nick gave his daughter an encouraging wink. "Good. Will you start the coffee for me?"

"Sure." Madeline turned and gladly made her way downstairs to start the coffee for him and Sara. They'd both switched to decaf since Sara found out she was expecting. Madeline wasn't quite sure what to think of the pregnancy. First off, it was proof that her parents were having sex – EWW. She tried not to think about that. Maddie enjoyed having Callie as a younger sister, but she also got stuck with babysitting duty a little more often than she'd like. With another new brother or sister, would her dad and Sara expect her to help out a lot with it too? Plus, by the time the baby was born, she'd be seventeen years old. Would it be hard to bond with a brother or sister that was so much younger than her?

Upstairs, Nick walked back over to the bathroom where Cody was now brushing his teeth a bit harshly, like he had something on his mind. Their relationship had evolved quite a bit over the last four years, but still stayed much the same. Cody had always looked up to Nick, even before he and Sara started dating. When Nick and Sara got married, it was like Cody's dreams came true. He had a father, finally, after a lifetime of just having his mom. In the totally clichéd way, Nick had taught Cody how to play catch, he helped with homework, and they played chess together. They'd fit into a father/son relationship quite easily – much better than Maddie had been accepting Sara into her life. Not that they constantly argued, but Madeline still hadn't gotten close to her stepmother.

"Bud, are you doin' alright?" Nick asked from the doorway. Cody was caught up in his own world and turned bug-eyed as he turned to look at Nick. He hoped Nick couldn't guess what he'd been thinking about.

"Uhhh…yea, Dad." He said, his toothbrush still perched in his mouth. Nick smirked a little at his obvious embarrassment over something.

"Maddie wasn't pickin' on you, was she?" The older girl was known to be a bit of a bully to her brother at times if he ticked her off.

Cody quickly shook his head no, his eyes still wide. A moment later, they both heard the sound of upchucking coming from the master bathroom. Nick winced and then nodded his head slowly in understanding. "Alright then. You better get a move-on."

Cody breathed a little sigh of relief as Nick left to go back into the master bedroom. His mother was apparently experiencing quite bad morning sickness, much like she had experienced with him. Since she'd gotten pregnant, Cody had become more and more curious and where he'd come from. Like any fifth grade boy, he was getting curious about kissing and sex. He wanted to ask his mother questions about his real father, but he didn't want to upset her. All she'd ever told him was that she didn't know where his father was. Apparently, she didn't know him very well at all. It wasn't fair that Maddie had her father, this new baby would have its father, all his friends at least knew their fathers, and he had no clue about his. He loved Nick, but he wanted to know about his biological father too. But whenever he brought it up, his mom began to look uncomfortable and sad, and Cody didn't want to upset his mother.

After rinsing out his mouth, Cody put his toothbrush back into the holder and began to make his way back to his bedroom to get dressed. On his way there, he looked towards his parents' bedroom and stopped by the doorframe. Nick was leading his mom to lay back down on the bed. Cody watched curiously as Nick tucked her under the sheets and then sat on the edge. He tenderly kissed her forehead and rubbed her slightly protruding belly as he said something softly. His mother closed her eyes and Nick stood up and happened to make eye contact with Cody. Embarrassed yet again, Cody quickly disappeared into his bedroom. Damn his curiosity.

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Across town, the morning routine for the Phillips family was similar, but somehow highly different. At a little after eight o'clock, Callie decided she'd stayed in bed long enough, so she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing at her eyes. Her hair was done up in matching braided pigtails, so that in the morning, her mom could brush her hair out and it would be all wavy and pretty. As she stood up and went to her dresser to get fresh panties and an outfit for the day, she rubbed her neck a little because it ached a little bit.

Callie wandered across the hall to her mother's room and pushed the door open, finding both her and what had been announced as her future stepfather still in bed. She dropped her clothes onto the floor and walked over to her mother's side of the bed.

"Mommaaaa…" She called, giving her a bit of a shake. "Time to unbraid my hair."

Beneath the sheets, Lauren groaned and scrubbed her hand over her face. Her eyes fluttered open to find her beautiful four year old daughter staring back at her wide-eyed. She was adorable, she had to admit.

"Morning, baby." She croaked out as Howard stirred next to her. "Give me a few more minutes. Why don't you go brush your teeth."

Callie sighed, a little disappointed, but obeyed. Already at the age of four, she was quite an independent little girl. She brushed her teeth really well (and she even always brushed her tongue), got dressed all by herself, and of course woke up without her mother most of the time. Callie just didn't realize how independent she really was – she figured all little girls did this every day.

Five minutes later, Callie wandered back into her mother's room to get her clothes and put them on, and also remind her mom to do her hair. Only, she was a little busy now kissing Howard. Callie thought it was disgusting. She picked up her clothes and walked back to her room. Her neck still ached, but she knew better than to bother her mom when she was kissing Howard.

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About ten minutes later, Nick, Cody, and Madeline were all downstairs at the breakfast table. They usually barely had time to sit down, but since Nick didn't have to drag his two kids out of bed that morning, they had a little time to enjoy breakfast. Well, Cody and Nick did anyway. Madeline was busy reading a chapter of _Wuthering Heights_ as she slowly shoveled some Cheerios into her mouth. Nick always got concerned when she was doing homework in the morning.

"Honey, is that all you have left to do?" He asked as he poured her some more orange juice.

Maddie kept her eyes focused on the page. "And some math problems. Heathcliff is a real douche."

Nick just had to nod in agreement as he set her glass back down. It had been probably twenty years since he'd read the book, but if memory served him right, a douche was a pretty accurate description for Heathcliff. "That he is."

"What's a douche?" Cody asked.

Madeline looked up, smiling a bit at her dad because he probably didn't want her to explain. "It's not important." Nick told him.

Maddie couldn't stop herself from cracking up a little bit, but she stopped when Nick shot her a warning look. "So, uh, where's Sara?"

"She went back to bed for a little while." Nick told her, thinking about his wife upstairs. It had been over sixteen years since he'd been around a pregnant woman 24/7, and he'd forgotten how tough it could be. Sara was getting morning sickness way worse than Lauren ever had, and she was also exhausted. Despite all this, Sara still wanted to continue to work full time up until the baby was born. While Nick didn't think this was all that good of an idea, and he wanted her to take it easy, he also knew it wasn't wise to try to tell Sara what to do. Once she'd made up her mind, it was rare that she would be swayed from it. Nick didn't see how she did it – how she could carry another little person around and still work full time.

"Baby trouble?" Madeline guessed easily as she shoveled more cereal into her mouth and managed to balance her book in the other. She was quite the multi-tasker. Nick nodded. "That thing's a little jerk."

"It's not the baby's fault." Cody answered before Nick even had the chance. "It's because of the hormones."

Nick couldn't help but chuckle at how knowledgeable his stepson was about morning sickness. Cody had sure been doing his research.

"It stops around the third month anyway." He added.

"And where did you learn all this, Code-man?" Nick reached over and ruffled his hair a little, a bit impressed that Cody knew all this mumbo jumbo.

"In health class. And on the Internet." He ate a spoonful of his cereal and felt his face getting red again. Cody liked impressing Nick with his knowledge, but he couldn't believe how stupid he was sometimes about what he shared. He just hoped Nick didn't ask what he knew about sex.

"Dad, you should see what _else_ he finds on the Internet." Maddie retorted. Since her brother always caused her so much embarrassment, he was going to have to learn to take what he dished out. And how dorky was it that he knew all about pregnancy hormones and he was ten years old?

"Shut UP!" Cody yelled at his older sister.

"Both of you cool it." Nick told them. He'd taken for granted how much easier it was to raise just one kid, and not have to deal with sibling rivalry.

"Maddie snuck out last night and she was making out with Gavin in the yard!" Cody blurted, feeling brave. He was sick and tired of Madeline thinking she could just embarrass him and think it was funny. It was completely silent in the room for a few seconds, as both Madeline and Nick gaped at his comment.

"Cody, you liar!" Maddie slammed her book down on the table and quickly tried to cover things up, but knew she'd been busted wide open. Nick had already crossed his arms and was now looking at his daughter with quite a displeased look on his face. All morning, he'd been worrying about her hectic school and gymnastics schedule, when all along she was apparently wasting it fooling around with a boy.

"Madeline, is this true?" Nick asked her straight up, and torqued his jaw. Maddie stared into her cereal bowl as she chased her Cheerios around with her spoon, wishing she could jump in and hide. She knew good and well if she got caught in a lie, it was best to tell the truth.

"Yes." She mumbled, not bothering to make any excuses. She shot a glare at her younger brother, who at least looked a little sorry that he'd just gotten his sister in hot water.

Nick stood up with his near-empty cereal bowl in hand as he cleared his throat. Instead of starting a lecture like Madeline figured he would, he just looked at her and shook his head a bit, then walked to the kitchen. Madeline sighed and looked back down at her cereal and shot Cody another hateful glare. He furrowed his eyes back at her and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, _it's your own fault_.

Though she of course hated being lectured, the fact that her father hadn't said anything worried Madeline. She was a bit of a free spirit, but she still wanted her parents to trust her and think she was a good kid. The silent treatment was sheer torture. Madeline rose to her feet and picked up her bowl to take it into the kitchen, where her dad was rinsing out his own bowl. She stood right next to him as he rinsed a few of the dirty dishes.

"Dad…" She started, wishing he would say something. Anything. Nick kept his jaw squared as he loaded a few of the dishes into the dishwasher. He wanted so badly to be able to trust his daughter during her teen years. Everyone knew the teen years were a turbulent time, but Nick hoped their relationship was strong enough that she wouldn't be tempted to be dishonest with him. And his daughter…making out with someone? He didn't want to believe it.

Madeline was getting frustrated by the lack of response. "Dad!" She grabbed his arm, trying to get his attention. "Would you talk to me?"

Nick turned to face Madeline, sticking his tongue in his cheek. "You wanna talk?" He began, "Hmmm? I'd love to hear your explanation, Madeline. Why you think it's okay for me to worry about how much sleep you're gettin', and if you have enough time to do your homework, and whether or not I should pull you out of public school. And the whole time, you're sneaking out to be with this Gavin punk?"

"Dad, he's not a punk –"

"Don't change the subject, Madeline. Don't you dare." He stopped her. "This is about me and Sara being able to trust you. I can't believe you." Nick let the dishwasher door shut loudly.

"I'm sixteen, Dad! You really think I haven't kissed a boy before? Please!"

Nick turned in his place with his hands on his hips. That part bothered him too, but not as much as knowing Madeline had been deceiving them all along. "That's not what I have a problem with. I get it. You're growing up and you're interested in boys. I've let you go on dates. What I don't like is your deception, Madeline."

Madeline sighed, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration as her dad started moving to get out of the kitchen. Sure, it was wrong to sneak out of the house and lie, but how else was she going to have the time to see Gavin outside of practice? She trained almost every day of the week, and the rest of the time she spent doing homework and pretending to sleep. Her parents would never let her go on a date if her homework wasn't done.

"Dad…" Maddie felt tears welling up in her eyes. It was all so confusing and frustrating, how her priorities didn't seem to meet up with his. She got that school was important to him, and being responsible…but she hated school most of the time now, and she just wanted to be around Gavin. "You don't understand."

Nick turned around as he reached the end of the kitchen. "No, I probably don't." He admitted. "But I don't want you seeing that boy anymore. Not until I think I can trust you again. Is that understood?"

Madeline gaped and crossed her arms. "No! Dad, that's not fair."

Nick held his hands out. "Either that, or maybe you need to think about giving up gymnastics." Nick threw out, because he knew that wasn't even an option for Madeline. She loved it too much. "Maddie, I trusted you to be responsible with your time. You assured me you were doing your best with homework, and balancing training with school. It looks like I've been giving you too much freedom."

Nick left the room before Madeline had a chance to say anything else.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Howdy all. Update! Thanks again to the French for giving George a press conference! It's still inspiring me! Woo hoo! If you haven't seen it, go to George Eads Texan Charm site, and I linked it down in the guestbook. Thanks for the reviews so far, and please keep them coming. It's like crack!_

Later that afternoon, Madeline sat in her English class, mindlessly tapping the end of her pencil on her notebook, which was completely blank despite the fact she was supposed to be taking notes on Heathcliff. As the teacher babbled on about the Wuthering Heights characters, she stared out the window at a pair of birds in a tree that grew right next to their classroom. Obviously, they were a pair. Maybe they were mates. Either way, Madeline was sure they didn't have a father who was plotting to keep them apart and make them miserable. Oh, to be a bird.

Honestly, did he think that a simple warning was going to keep them apart? They were like Rose and Jack from Titanic – nothing could keep them apart. Maybe she wouldn't have to sneak out her window at night to be with him if her father wasn't so uptight. He'd told her earlier that morning that it wasn't the fact she was interested in boys that worried him, it was her deception, only Maddie knew that was a complete lie. Her father wanted to keep her a little girl forever, and keeping her away from the man she loved (okay, maybe not love – that's too strong of a word) was part of his evil plan.

"Madeline!" The sixteen year old jumped when she heard her English teacher call her name forcefully. She must have been spacing out. Maddie focused her attention on Mrs. Day, hoping she hadn't had to call her name too many times. She tried hard to pay attention in this class, especially since her grade had recently slipped to a C+.

"Sorry," she apologized as she took correct hold of her pencil. The stark white, completely blank page stared back at her, reminding her of where her head had been at.

"I asked you what Linton's attitude towards Heathcliff is like," she restated the question for the notoriously spacey teen. Madeline's mind was completely blank. She'd perhaps come across that name…Linton…but she had no idea what the answer to the question was.

"Umm...well, I think…" as Madeline tried to formulate a reasonable answer in her mind, the bell rang, saving her from certain embarrassment. Her friend Emily grinned at her from the next row over, knowing Madeline had no idea what the answer was.

Mrs. Day sighed and scribbled down something on her notebook. "Alright. Read chapters eleven and twelve for tomorrow, class. Madeline, can I see you for a moment?"

Maddie heard a few snickers around her, because they all knew Mrs. Day didn't mess around. She was a hard, but fair teacher, and didn't allow her students to slack off and get sloppy. After the morning she'd had, a lecture from Mrs. Day wasn't exactly what she wanted. Last week, she'd gotten on her case about keeping up with the readings. She got that Wuthering Heights was a literary classic, but she'd rather be reading Twilight. Reluctantly, she packed up her bag and walked over to the teacher's desk.

"Yes, ma'am?" She asked politely, but with a tiredness to her voice. Mrs. Day scribbled something else down in her grade book and sighed.

"Madeline, did you do the readings for today?" She asked her student, straight up. Madeline stared back at her for a moment. Her teacher was a petite woman, only about 5'2", but she was still rather intimidating right now.

"Uhh…," she studied her fingernails for a moment, "Some of it, but I didn't get all the way done."

Mrs. Day just nodded for a few moments, studying Maddie's face. She'd had her share of gymnasts in class over the past twenty-two years of teaching, and knew their schedules were demanding, but that didn't mean she could slack off in her class. "You didn't take one note the entire class, and your grade has now slipped to a C."

Maddie sighed and shifted her weight slightly. She really didn't want to listen to this again. "I know, Mrs. Day, and I'm sorry. I'll try to do better, I promise."

Visibly troubled, Mrs. Day rubbed at her forehead with a couple fingers as she sighed heavily. "Maddie, I know you have a tough schedule. When your father came in for parent teacher conferences, we talked about it quite a bit, actually. Does he know how much you've been falling behind?"

Of course he did. He was more involved in her schoolwork than she was, practically. None of her friends had parents who kept an eye on their progress like that. In a way, she guessed it was a good thing to have such an involved dad, but it was also a pain in the ass. She hadn't heard from him about her C+ yet, though, so she wondered if he'd been trying to cut her some slack or if he was completely oblivious.

"Yes, ma'am," she told her teacher. "He's helping me."

She nodded as more students began to filter into the room for her next class. Madeline played with the straps of her backpack uncomfortably, hoping Mrs. Day would get to the point fast.

"Madeline, maybe you need to talk to him about your schedule. Can you cut back at your hours at the gym for a while?"

For months, Madeline had been trying to get her father to let her get a private tutor instead of going to public school. That would make her life so much easier. She hated going to school every day, then training in the afternoon for 4 or 5 hours. After practice, she could barely keep her eyes open long enough to do homework. It was too much. Madeline would love to change her schedule, only if it came down to public school or gymnastics, she had a feeling her dad would make the decision for her, and she wouldn't like what he picked. You won't be doing gymnastics forever, he'd say. School is more important.

"I'll talk to him," Maddie assured her as she took a step towards the door. She didn't know if that was a fib or not. She hadn't decided yet.

"Make sure you do," Mrs. Day called after her as she hurried off to her next class.

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After school, Madeline hurried off to her gymnastics practice. Thankfully, it was Wednesday, so she didn't have to pick up Cody and Callie, and it was her night to stay at her mom's. Though she had a bedroom at both her parents' houses, she kept ninety percent of her things at her father's. This was mostly because her dad still had sole custody of her, and she only stayed with her mom Wednesdays and every other weekend. However, since Madeline was a teenager and had a hectic schedule, her parents only loosely followed this schedule. Madeline was allowed to stay at either parent's house when she wanted, as long as she called the other to let them know what was going on. Most of the time, Maddie chose to stay with her dad, but most weeks she tried to stay at her mom's on Wednesdays to spend time with her and Callie. Weekends at her mom's usually only happened once a month.

Madeline arrived at the gym soon after school ended, and hurried into the locker room to change into her leotard and shorts. She did so as quickly as she could, because she knew Gavin must be hovering nearby, probably in his dad's office. Maddie wasn't sure if she should tell him about her father's new rule about not seeing him. He couldn't exactly stop them from seeing each other at the gym. If she never told him, he could plead ignorance if they ever got in trouble. As she joined the other girls with warm-ups, however, she knew it was the right thing to tell Gavin what was going on. It didn't mean they had to follow the new rule, though.

A few minutes later, Gavin and his father emerged from the office to start practice. Gavin was wearing a pair of black Adidas athletic pants, paired with a form-fitting white t-shirt that showed off his muscles. When no one was looking, he winked at Maddie and she felt her face blushing. She was glad that her parents rarely came to watch her at practices anymore.

Throughout practice, Gavin stayed as close to Madeline has he could and still do his job. He spotted her on bars and beam, and led some conditioning exercises. Maddie felt herself trying even harder whenever he was around. She wanted him to think she was a good athlete, and she loved that he was always watching her. The possibility of having neck pains didn't even cross her mind, because she was so caught up in Gavin and what he was doing every second of practice.

At seven, practice concluded, so Madeline very quickly changed back into her street clothes. After she'd slung her bag over her shoulder, she headed out the side door and predictably found Gavin there waiting for her. Almost immediately, they locked lips and didn't stop for a good minute.

"Hey, gorgeous," Gavin whispered after they'd finally stopped, letting his forehead rest against hers. He was still wearing his form-fitting t-shirt, and now Madeline was free to let her hands run over his well-defined biceps and chest.

"Hey," she smiled, loving the twinkle she spotted in his eyes. They talked by the side of the gym for a few minutes before she informed him about her dad's smack down in terms of their relationship. He seemed disappointed, but they both agreed they'd find a way to keep seeing each other. Gavin didn't want to get on the Stokes' bad side, but he adored Madeline and couldn't stand to be away from her very long.

"You know, I'm staying at my mom's tonight. Why don't you come over? She won't care," Madeline suggested. It was the truth, that her mom wouldn't mind. She'd worked out very early on in her life that her mother was more lax with the rules. Especially since they'd divorced, her mother seemed more apt to let Maddie bend the rules. It was like she thought if she let Maddie do what she wanted, she'd like her more, and come over more often. This was at least partially true. While they weren't close as a mother and daughter, Maddie loved being around her little half sister, and if she wasn't getting along with her dad, like she was now, it was great to get away.

"Sure," he agreed, letting his hands rest on Maddie's small hips. They leaned into another slow kiss, and the evening was settled.

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Later that evening, Callie giggled as her older sister helped hold her in place as she did a handstand. Last month, Callie started taking gymnastics lessons because it looked like fun, and she completely adored her big sister.

"Good job, Cal!" Maddie praised her, and tickled her exposed little tummy. Gavin smiled as he looked on from the couch. Callie squirmed in response and lost her balance, toppling over. Her sister caught her easily and laid her down on the floor so she could tickle her even more.

"Stoooop!" She pleaded as she tried to dodge her sister's hands. It was no use, and soon Gavin had joined in the wonderful torture. In the next room, Lauren shook her head as Howard gently massaged her feet. It was great having Madeline over for several reasons. Mostly because she was her daughter and she loved her, in her own way. But she was also great at entertaining her four year old. Lauren had never been much of a hands-on mother, only when she had to be, so it was great to have Madeline to wear her out. Bedtime would be much less of a hassle that evening.

It was already eight o'clock, so Lauren reluctantly got off the couch to put Callie to bed. Putting her down was usually harder when Madeline was around, because Callie loved spending time with her. The feeling was mutual, and Maddie felt bad that she couldn't spend more time with her. She loved Callie, but she got sick of being her mom really quickly.

When Lauren appeared in the doorway, Callie knew what was next, and grumbled. "Momma, can't I stay up a little late?"

"Baby, your sister has homework to do, and she can't do it with you hanging all over her. Say goodnight," Lauren told her. Callie frowned and pummeled her older sister, hoping Maddie would help her draw things out a little more. However, Madeline was already quite adult in many ways, including helping take care of her sister.

"You heard Mom," Maddie told her, giving her another tickle as she stood up. "Come on, I'll take you upstairs."

Lauren smiled at her appreciatively as Madeline picked up the four year old with no protest. "Will you read me a bedtime story?" She asked hopefully.

Madeline rubbed her back and hitched her up a little more. "Of course. Say goodnight to Gavin and Mommy."

She blew both of them a kiss and waved as Madeline took her up the stairs. It only took a little sweet talking to get the preschooler ready for bed, and by the time Madeline had finished the story, she was fast asleep.

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Safe within the confines of the bathroom, Cody looked at himself in the mirror, furrowing his eyebrows up and down. His father's eyebrows did amazing, expressive things, and he wanted to see if his worked the same way. Could he get his eyebrows to pop up in surprise the way Nick could?

Nick talked sometimes about his school days, and Cody knew that he'd always been pretty popular, especially with the girls. Cody still worshipped his stepfather and thought the world of him. He wanted to be just like him, especially since it seemed to attract ladies.

Cody cleared his throat and then let out a rather pathetic sound, trying to imitate his stepfather's hearty, manly laugh. He felt his face redden a bit at the dorkiness of it all. The way Nick laughed – it seemed to make everyone else around him at least smile. Cody wished he had the ability to do that. If he could, maybe a girl would let him kiss her.

There was a knock on the door moments later, and he heard his stepfather tell him it was time for bed. It was just a little past nine o'clock, and his mother was already in bed, worn out from her pregnancy. Cody sighed and told him he'd be right out after he brushed his teeth. Nick was about to start a load of laundry, so he first went into Cody's room and collected all the dark clothing. He next let himself into Madeline's room, which was empty tonight. It was still weird to have her gone most Wednesdays, though he supposed it was just like her going to a sleepover at a friend's house. Nick went through his daughter's laundry basket, and picked up a couple pairs of jeans and a t-shirt from the floor. As he picked up a pair of jeans, he found a copy of Wuthering Heights on her floor. Squinting his eyes a little, he picked it up and dog eared the page it was open to. Madeline kept almost all her stuff here, but she surely had reading to do for English that night. He'd received an e-mail from her English teacher earlier that day about Madeline's progress. It was a request he'd made of her, and all Maddie's teachers, earlier in the nine weeks, to alert him if her grade dropped significantly. He liked to be proactive about his daughter's academics, because he knew she wasn't always forthcoming about troubles at school. She was now getting a C, and she knew it, so he thought she should be making an extra effort to do her readings and homework in that class well.

Nick took the laundry downstairs and tossed it into the washer. He measured out the detergent, emptied it inside, and started up the cycle. Then he picked up the cordless and dialed Lauren's home number to see if Maddie needed her book for the night. After two rings, Lauren picked up.

"Hello?" She asked, and Nick heard laughter and chattering in the background.

"Oh, hey, Lauren. It's me," he told her as he picked up a couple dirty cups in the living room.

"Oh, hi," she said a bit dismissively. Nick knew she never really liked to hear from him, so he got straight to the point. "I found one of Maddie's English books in her room, and I just wanted to check if she needed it for tonight. I could drive it over."

"Okay, hold on. Let me get her. She's outside with Gavin studying," she informed him as she headed for the back porch. Nick torqued his jaw in annoyance. Yesterday, he'd explicitly told his daughter he didn't want her seeing him, and she goes to her mother's house and does the exact opposite.

"Gavin's over there?" He checked as he loaded the two glasses into the dishwasher a little rougher than usual.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Lauren asked as she walked towards the sliding door.

"Did you not get my email?" He questioned his ex-wife. Nick had emailed her yesterday to let her know Madeline wasn't allowed to see Gavin, at least for a while. For enforcement purposes, Nick and Lauren tried to keep each other informed. Lauren very rarely disciplined their daughter, so it was normally Nick passing on a message. He'd come to realize over the past couple years that she wasn't always so great about enforcing things. At times, it really compromised the effectiveness of rules and consequences for Madeline.

"Sorry, I haven't checked it today," Lauren apologized, though was an annoyance in her voice. She hated when Nick handed out a punishment at his house and expected her to be the bad guy and follow through with it at her house. It wasn't how she wanted to spend her time with her daughter. "Did something happen?"

"Yea, she's been sneaking around with him when she should be doin' homework, and her grades are falling," Nick told her, letting the dishwasher door shut loudly. "Until she's trustworthy again, I've told her there's no Gavin, but obviously she thinks she can bend the rules over there."

Lauren rolled her eyes at his accusation. "She's sixteen. She needs to be hanging out with friends, not just doing gymnastics and schoolwork. Gavin's a good kid, Nick. I don't know what you have against him."

"I think he's a good kid too, Lauren, but Maddie hasn't been honest with me about her work. She told me yesterday she didn't quite have time to finish her homework because she was so tired, but then I find out she snuck out the window to meet up with Gavin. We can't let her get away with that, Lauren," Nick pointed out.

"Well, she doesn't feel the need to sneak around behind my back, Nick, so maybe you should think about your actions," Lauren shot back.

"She probably doesn't feel the need because she knows you won't punish her, and she's only there once a week," Nick said in disbelief. It had always been this way – he had to be the bad guy with Madeline, and Lauren got to be her best bud. Madeline wasn't getting any consistency at all between her two biological parents, and Nick just couldn't get his ex to see that.

"You're too strict with her, Nick. You need to lighten up," Lauren said.

"That's the last thing she needs. She just directly disobeyed me and at my house, that means she's grounded. Are you gonna back me up on this?" He asked.

"When Madeline's in my house, I'll raise her how I want to, thank you," Lauren informed him as she opened the sliding glass door. "Here she is."

Lauren held the cordless phone out for her daughter to take. She'd been sitting out on the bench as Gavin asked her questions about the chapter she had to read for history. Well, it was more of a combination of chatting, kissing, and a little studying, because Maddie knew she could get away with that at her mom's house. "Who is it?"

"It's your father," Lauren told her as her daughter took the phone. "Gavin, I think you better head home for the night so Maddie can finish studying." Gavin nodded, looking disappointed, and gave Madeline a little goodbye kiss. Gavin and Lauren then disappeared inside the house so Madeline would have some privacy.

"Dad?" She asked as she took a seat again on the bench.

"Hi," he answered, and Maddie was already reading his tone. Obviously, he'd found out she was doing something wrong. Which thing, she wasn't sure, but had a feeling she was about to find out. "I was calling because I found your Wuthering Heights book on the floor in your bedroom, and wanted to see if you needed it for homework."

Maddie bit her lip. "Uh, yea. I must have missed picking it up earlier."

"I'll bring it over, then," he said, "But interestingly, I found out when I talked to your mother that Gavin's over there with you. Is that right?"

Madeline sighed. Again, when she knew she was caught, it was best not to tell a lie. "Yeah, but how is it your business what I do when I'm at Mom's house?" She challenged him right away.

Nick gaped only a moment before he jumped right back in, "I don't care whose house you're at. I specifically told you yesterday not to see him, and you did it anyway. You know that's not okay."

"Mom doesn't seem to care," she'd easily picked up on her mom's obvious displeasure at what she'd been talking to her dad about. Though she felt a little bad about it, Maddie fully took advantage of playing her parents off each other because they disagreed so often.

"I care," he told her firmly, "And I don't like that you've been lying to me and disregarding what I tell you. I'm not gonna stand for it, Madeline Elizabeth."

The usage of the middle name was never good. She sighed and let her body relax against the bench swing, knowing he wasn't just going to let this go with a warning. "You can't just stop me from seeing him, Dad. He's my boyfriend."

Nick torqued his jaw again, because it was true. He couldn't control what she did, not totally. As a child, she was more prone to heed his word, because she thought the world would end if she didn't. Now that she was older, she was more prone to giving him a challenge when it came to doing, or not doing, what he said.

"Well, I can't stop you from seeing him at practice, but you'd better not be sneaking around to see him otherwise," he warned her, "You disobeyed me, and I found out from Mrs. Day you're gettin' a C in English. You're grounded for two weeks, and if you pull anything else like you did tonight, it'll be more."

"You can't ground me when I'm at Mom's house!" She told him, thinking this turn of events was totally unfair. "I'm at her place, and I only have to follow her rules!"

Unfortunately, Nick didn't quite have the back-up from his ex-wife. Most likely, she wouldn't enforce her grounding at her place, and that really made Nick's life harder. "I just did. You know better than to disobey something I told you directly not to do at anyone's house."

"This is bullshit, Dad," she told him, getting upset. She was at her mother's house, so he shouldn't be allowed to call her on the phone and ground her. "But you know, what? That's fine. Maybe I should just live at Mom's house for a while. She likes Gavin, and she wants me to be around him."

Nick couldn't believe what she was suggesting. She'd never liked staying at her mom's house, mostly because she was now fully realizing what a self-centered bee-otch Lauren was. Was he that hard to live with now, that his daughter would prefer to live with…that?

"Madeline, you're upset right now, so we don't need to be makin' any brash decisions," he told her. "I'm gonna bring your book over so you can do your homework, and we can talk then if you want to."

Maddie's eyes had welled up with tears, and placed her palm on her forehead in frustration. "You don't understand," she gritted through her teeth. "I like Gavin a lot, Dad. Maybe not love, but I care about him so much. You may not see how important he is to me, and how much I need him, but Mom does. And I wanna live somewhere I'm understood."

The teenager clicked the phone off and stormed back inside, leaving her father abruptly listening to a dead line.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Holaaaa. Muchos gracias for the reviews. They pretty much make me happier than a pig in you know what. Please let me know what you think!_

Lauren had cracked a window open right next to the back porch, so she had sneakily eavesdropped on her daughter's conversation with Nick. Though she could only hear one side, it sounded like Nick was in the doghouse. She hated to take advantage of such a situation. Okay, not really. It was kind of nice to hear that Madeline wasn't happy living with her father, and actually wanted to live with her. She loved Madeline, and she was a big help around the house and with Callie. Lauren would love to have her daughter living with her full-time, not only for those reasons, but also because she knew it killed Nick. One point for Lauren!

When she heard Madeline had hung up, she stealthily moved away from the window, and busied herself picking up a few things on the kitchen table. Maddie walked in and slammed the sliding door behind her, looking thoroughly seethed.

"Baby, is something wrong?" Lauren's tone was almost overly concerned. Madeline stopped next to her mother and rubbed at one of her eyebrows as Lauren soothingly patted her arm.

"Dad's so unfair," Madeline muttered, fresh tears coming to her eyes. Every time she thought of the fact he was trying to keep Gavin away from her, she felt herself get angry all over again. He'd almost always understood her growing up, but lately they seemed to be on totally different pages.

Lauren let out a sympathetic sound and guided her daughter to sit down at the kitchen table. Her daughter allowed her, accepting the comfort, glad to have someone on her side. "What'd he say, sweet pea?"

"He's mad because I had Gavin over after he told me I couldn't," Madeline began, "but I'm at your house, Mom! And you don't care if I see him, so why should he have any control over what I do here?"

Lauren continued to rub her daughter's arm in sympathy, nodding her head every now and then to let her know she understood. "He doesn't, baby. When you're at my house, you only have to follow my rules. I'm sorry your father's being such a stick in the mud."

Maddie wiped some tears away from her eyes. When had she forgotten how awesome her mother could be? At her dad's house, Sara never backed her up. They were always on one side, and she was always on the other. Her mother just seemed to understand her, and it this point in her life, that made her the more popular parent. She didn't much care about all the crap her mom had put her through in recent years; she cared that her mother understood her feelings about Gavin.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted their heart to heart. Madeline grumbled, knowing it was likely her father coming over with her novel and to give her a piece of his mind. Lauren sighed and stood up, then gave Maddie an encouraging kiss on top of her head. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like, sweetheart."

Maddie nodded in appreciation as her mother walked across the room to the front door. Lauren just stepped aside and glared at her ex-husband as he walked in. Nick gave her a greeting nod, much more focused on talking to his daughter. "Evening," he told his ex.

Madeline had since stood up to face her father, crossing her arms across her chest. It was all about presence and confidence, and now that she had her mother backing her up, Maddie didn't see how her dad would get away with his plans to ruin her adolescence. "Father," she greeted him coldly.

Nick poked his tongue in the side of his cheek and handed the book over to Maddie first. She took it and tossed it onto the coffee table, not once averting her glare from his face. Her mother stood by, leaning against the doorframe just behind Nick. "We need to talk," Nick began.

"Yea, we do," Madeline agreed, her voice strong and firm. She was surprised at how much conviction she heard coming from within. "You have no right to tell me what to do when I'm at Mom's house."

Nick laughed humorlessly, looking down for a moment before meeting his daughter's gaze once again. "You're not just my daughter when you're at my house. You saying you don't have to follow my rules when you're here is like saying whenever you go to a friend's house you don't have to follow the rules."

"Oh yeah?" She challenged him. "Well, that's not what Mom seems to think, is it Mom?" She summoned her backup. Lauren walked into the living room, where the two were sparring and stood next to her daughter.

"I have to admit you're being pretty ridiculous about all this, Nick," Lauren told him, enjoying this position of power against her ex-husband. He always acted so high and mighty, and their daughter usually seemed to take his side. It was nice to have Madeline relying on her for help.

Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lauren ditches them, manipulates their daughter, and tries to kidnap her, and all of a sudden she's Maddie's best friend again? He guessed he should be used to being the bad guy. "I'm being ridiculous?" he asked, exasperated. "I'm the one trying to set responsible limits for our daughter, and you're backing her up like you're her friend and not her mother?"

"It's a ridiculous rule, Nicholas," Lauren defended herself. "And I'm not trying to be her friend. I'm trying to understand her. I remember what it's like to be a teenager in love."

Nick scoffed, putting his hands on his hips. Courtesy number one with divorced parents with kids was to back up the other parent when the kid acted up. Did she realize what the hell she was doing to him? To Madeline? His daughter was going to be confused if the rest of her adolescence was like this. Up until now, Nick and Madeline hadn't had a major disagreement. Now that they had, Lauren was hindering rather than helping.

"Unbelievable," Nick muttered, shaking his head. If he had any hope of getting through to Madeline, he'd first have to shake Lauren out of her current state of mind. Why was she being so ridiculous? "Madeline, will you excuse us for a minute? I need to speak to your mother alone."

Maddie rolled her eyes and let her arms fall to her sides. She angrily walked off and headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Nick waited until he heard the door shut before he started in on his ex.

"What the hell are you trying to do? Huh?" He demanded. Any patience he'd had before he walked in the door was long gone. He wasn't sure who was the teenager in the house – Maddie or Lauren.

Lauren sighed loudly and headed into the kitchen to load up the dishwasher, distracting herself slightly from her ex-husband. "I told you. I'm trying to understand our daughter. Don't you remember what we were like when we were young? Madeline needs to have fun, Nick, and you're just being asinine."

He followed her into the kitchen, leaning on one of his hands against the counter as Lauren worked. "And look how things turned out for us. Just because you think you're in love, or whatever she is, doesn't mean she can ignore her responsibilities. School should be her number one priority right now."

"That's your number one priority for her, Nick. Have you ever considered stopping to ask her what she wants?" Lauren asked, slamming a cup into place in the top row. "Maybe she doesn't want to go to college."

"Oh, she's going to college," Nick corrected her. "Come on, Lauren. Everyone knows a college degree gets you ahead in the world. We've always wanted that for Maddie. What's she gonna do otherwise? Do gymnastics for life?"

"Maybe she wants to coach gymnastics," Lauren pointed out as she rinsed a still dirty cup out in the sink, raising her eyebrows at him.

"She's sixteen," Nick pointed out. "She probably doesn't know what she wants to do with her life yet. Until she figures it out, she needs to keep her options open. She needs good grades to get into college, and when she's spending what little free time she has with this Gavin guy, they're goin' down the drain."

Lauren shook her head and huffed. "Madeline's been telling me you've been like this. You won't even consider her opinion."

Nick really didn't think that was the case. He listened to his daughter plenty, but there was a time he had to make Madeline do what she needed to do, not her spur-of-the-moment desire. That's what parenting was about, but apparently Lauren had never caught on.

"If you keep on like this, you're gonna confuse Madeline," Nick told her. "We can't disagree about things. She needs consistency, and the way you're takin' her side, and not looking out for her future is really just makin' it harder."

"Typical," Lauren observed as she wiped her hands on the dishtowel and turned to face him. "You always assume you're right."

They were interrupted when Howard graced them with his presence. His shirt was off, and the only other piece of clothing he wore was boxers. He looked concerned, having overheard part of their conversation. Of course Lauren had told her new boyfriend tons of horror stories about her previous marriage, most of which were highly skewed versions of the actual events. Nick noticed Howard eying him suspiciously.

"Is there a problem here?" Howard asked, getting all alpha male. Though Nick wanted to continue this argument, he was also aware this wasn't his home, and he'd probably overstayed his welcome. Howard possessively rested his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder as Lauren glared at Nick, as if to say he was outnumbered. No one in this house wanted him here.

Nick shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Depends on who you ask," he replied, taking a step towards the door. Though he hated to admit it, Nick was afraid. He was afraid that Madeline was being taken advantage of by staying with Lauren and Howard. They didn't make her accountable, and he doubted they parented her at all. He was afraid for Madeline. That soon she would come to terms with the harsh reality that her mother was using her to get back at him; using her as a stand-in mother for Callie; using her as a convenience. And because of all this, he was losing his daughter. It seemed he was powerless to stop it, at least for now. Madeline refused to listen to him, and Lauren wasn't making it any easier. As he made eye contact with his ex, he could see that look of victory she thrived on. She had won tonight, and unless Nick thought of something quick, she was going to destroy their daughter.

CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI

As soon as Nick got home, he tossed his keys and his wallet onto the counter in the darkness. He was beyond frustrated and frankly, he was hurt at how Madeline had so easily turned her back on him. And how low was Lauren for using the situation to her advantage? All he wanted to do now was crawl into bed with his wife. As part of his nightly routine, he walked to the front door to make sure it was locked. Sara must have already locked it, because the bolt was already in place. When he turned to walk towards the stairs, however, he saw a faint glow coming from beneath the door to his office. Because of his job, he was always overly cautious, so he moved silently towards the door, very gently turned the knob and poked his head inside. Just in his line of sight, he saw his stepson Cody, most likely on the computer.

He sighed and opened the door all the way, wondering why on earth Cody was on the computer this late at night. As he stepped fully into the room, however, he could see why Cody had locked the door. Apparently, he had found a very interesting website, and one that was not all appropriate for a ten year old boy; and actually, not appropriate for anyone under the age of eighteen.

"Cody," Nick said his name clearly, but didn't want to startle him. Cody had been so engrossed in the picture of the bare-chested woman he'd been staring at, he hadn't heard the door open. He gasped and looked at his stepfather, wide-eyed, his face already flushed with red. Nick wasn't mad. He was a little disappointed, but he understood curiosity was all part of growing up. Now that the internet was around, there was certainly a lot of imagery to feed that curiosity.

Cody fumbled to close the internet screen down, embarrassed beyond words. He couldn't believe his stepfather had walked in when he was looking at…this. Why hadn't he heard him outside the door? Cody opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. He heard his voice make little sounds, struggling to form words. Cody was surprised when he saw Nick smirk at him.

"Code-man," Nick sighed and sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his arms. "It's okay to be curious about things, but it's ten o'clock. It's way past your bedtime."

"Umm…" he looked down at his hands, anywhere but Nick's face, trying to think up an excuse. "Yea, I forgot I had a little bit of homework, and then I accidentally linked to this site, and…"

Nick could tell he was embarrassed, but his story was an obvious lie. Nick understood, though. If his father had caught him looking at a porn site as a kid, he'd want to hide in his room and never come out.

"Cody, if you have questions about…anything, you can come talk to me or your mom," Nick reminded him. Since Cody's father wasn't around, and Sara was a woman, obviously, Nick felt the responsibility of having "the talk" with Cody fell in his lap. Thinking back to his own childhood, the last person he'd want to talk about sex with was his mother. His father was pretty high up on the list too, but Nick hoped he was making himself approachable. If Cody could get past his initial embarrassment, Nick would be willing to talk about it openly. "Sex sites aren't exactly the best place to get information, and they don't portray women very well."

"Uh, yeah," Cody still avoided looking at him, and scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I better get to bed, I guess." He stood up and pushed in the chair, anxious to get away from this awful situation.

"Okay. Good night," Nick told him, understanding now was not the best time to give Cody the talk. Cody quickly wished him good night also and disappeared from the room, and ran up the stairs. Nick chuckled to himself a little, and leaned over the desk to shut down the computer. He stretched for a moment before turning off the light and heading upstairs to his bedroom for the evening.

Sara was already asleep, based on her shallow breathing. As he closed the door to the room, he looked over at his beautiful sleeping wife. Her arm was perched protectively over her growing belly, and her head turned to the side. Nick felt badly that she seemed to be suffering through this pregnancy. Her morning sickness had been worse than it had been with Cody, and her hormones were making her emotional. Nick sighed and stripped off his t-shirt, shoes, and jeans and tried crawling into bed without disturbing his wife. She needed as much rest as she could get, since she refused to quit working.

As Nick climbed in, the creaking of the mattress woke Sara up, and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled when she saw her husband settling in. Reaching out with her hand, she gently ran her hands through his short brown hair, causing Nick to look over at her.

"Hey, babe," he whispered, then leaned over to give her a tender kiss. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." His hand instinctively traveled under her tank top to rub the bulge in her stomach, which held his growing child. Suddenly, he had an awful, disturbing thought. If Madeline moved out of the house to live with Lauren, it would likely devastate Sara. Though the two weren't exceptionally close, Sara loved her stepdaughter unconditionally. Over the past few years, they'd grown closer. If Madeline were to suddenly leave, especially with Sara in the state she was in, it would break Sara's heart. Right now, Sara had no idea what was going on. It was Wednesday night, so it was normal for Maddie to be at her mother's for the night.

Sara sensed that something was troubling her husband as he rested his head on his pillow, his hand still resting on her stomach. She looked at his face – his forehead always seemed tensed when he was worried, and it was now. "Nick, what's the matter?"

Nick often underestimated Sara's ability to read him. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at her. Right now, he wasn't going to get into Madeline's desire to move in with her mother, but he knew if he didn't spill something, she'd be worried and suspicious.

"I'm just concerned about Maddie," he began, resting his head in his hand, propped up on his elbow. "I told her not to see Gavin until I could trust her again, and her English grade came back up. But she's at her mom's house, and I found out he was over there."

"Wow," Sara commented, raising her eyebrows. "She is really into him, isn't she?"

Nick scrubbed a hand over his face. "I guess so. I grounded her, but I don't think Lauren's gonna be enforcing it."

Sara turned onto her side and ran her hand up and down her husband's chest soothingly. She knew Madeline meant the world to him. Maddie meant the world to her, too, and it hurt to find out she'd been deceiving them. "Oh, sweetheart," she said sympathetically. "It'll all blow over sooner or later. She's only there once a week, so you can keep an eye on her the rest of the time," she pointed out, oblivious to Maddie's threats.

Nick closed his eyes in frustration. He felt bad for not telling Sara, but he really didn't want to upset her. Plus, Maddie's mood often swung from good to bad, back to good at the drop of a hat. Maybe she didn't really mean she wanted to move in with Lauren and Howard. She could just be trying to call his bluff. Nick hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking. As Sara laid her head on his chest and let out a relaxed sigh, he really hoped Maddie didn't mean it. It would crush him, and crush Sara if she left.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Holaaa. Thanks for waiting patiently. In my conversation with another writer, I thought I should point out that Madeline is pronounced like Madelyn (not mad-uh-line). Not that it matters a whole lot, but that's how I've always said it in my mind.

As Madeline slowly opened her eyes the next morning, her alarm clock taunting her menacingly, she noticed an odd sensation in her stomach. Not an unfamiliar sensation. She was nervous – but why would she be nervous at all? She was laying in her own bed in her mother's house on a Thursday morning. Only, last night she'd actually finally stood up to her dad about how he was ruining her life. She knew he didn't mean to – he would never purposely make her life hell, but he sure was. Didn't he know what it was like to be head over heels for someone? And if he thought she was just bluffing about moving out, he was dead wrong.

But why was she nervous? Maybe it was just all the change going on in her life at the moment. She'd never lived with her mother and that Howard guy before. Maddie thought it would be good to live with them for at least a while. She needed to get to know Howard, since he would be her future stepfather, and she adored Callie. Madeline couldn't wait to tell Callie that she was permanently moving in.

Madeline swung her legs over the side of her bed and scrubbed her hand over her face. She punched at her alarm clock buttons, and finally hit the right one, silencing it. Instead of the familiarity of her own bedroom at Nick's house; of walls covered in posters, her cozy furniture, and all her books, she was met with a plain white wall, bare furniture, and a mere single Van Gogh painting on the wall. After school, she'd definitely have to get started on moving some of her stuff over, and see if her mother would let her redecorate her room.

The teenager fumbled her way across the hallway to start herself a shower, planning out the day ahead in her mind as she washed her hair. Maybe after gymnastics, Gavin could go to the store with her and help pick out paint and some other decorations for her room. She couldn't stop herself from beaming at the thought of seeing Gavin again after school. Ten minutes later, she toweled herself dry, dressed, and then wrapped her hair up in a big towel.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the rest of the family was already downstairs. They didn't eat together at the table like they did at Nick's house. Howard was on his cell phone obviously talking to someone from his office, Callie was sitting in front of the television watching cartoons, and her mother was in the kitchen making pancakes.

"Mom," Maddie crinkled her eyebrows a little in surprise. Pancakes wasn't exactly a school day sort of breakfast. It was usually get up and get out as quickly as possible.

Lauren looked over at her oldest daughter and smiled as she flipped a pancake over. "Morning, sweetheart," she greeted her as she took a plate out of the cupboard.

"Pancakes on a school day?" She smiled as she came to stand next to her. Lauren set two pancakes on the plate for her and handed it over with a grin. She kissed her daughter's cheek.

"It's just something I wanted to do," she explained. Maddie didn't complain, and took the plate. She got out butter and syrup from the refrigerator. "Plus, it's a special occasion, with you moving in." She leaned in to whisper the last part because Callie didn't know yet.

Madeline smiled at her as she began to butter up her pancake. It just felt nice to hear her say it. It was proof that all this was actually happening; that she had moved out of her father's house and in with the one person he couldn't stand. It all felt like revenge, and her mother making her pancakes felt like a bribe, or an insurance policy to get her to stay. But Madeline didn't care. It was what she wanted. What her mother wanted had nothing to do with her actions. Maddie wanted to live with her mother, if not to get away from her father, to get closer to the other half of her family.

"Maddie!" A happy four year screeched at the commercial break of Dora the Explorer, which she hadn't taken her eyes off, not even for her sister. Madeline beamed as her sister grabbed hold of her leg. She picked her up into her arms and planted several kisses all over her face.

"Hey, munchkin," she set her down on the counter next to her pile of pancakes, "Guess what?"

"What?!" Her whole body perked up at the guessing game, and she looked at her sister expectantly.

"I'm gonna move in!"

The look of pure elation on her sister's face only further solidified in Maddie's mind that this was the right decision. She felt badly that Callie was left here all alone most of the time with no brothers or sisters to play with. Not that Madeline herself had much of a sibling to hang out with. She definitely would not miss Cody's conniving ways, and how he always seemed to torment her and get her in trouble.

"For forever?" The little girl checked, her bright blue eyes wide with hope. Madeline wished she could never disappoint her. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how long this arrangement would last. For now, it was great, but she still loved her father, Sara, and Cody. Maybe if her dad woke up and realized how unreasonable he was being, she might eventually move back in.

"For a while, at least," she decided to say. Callie wrapped her arms around Madeline's neck and giggled in happiness.

"Callie, here's some pancakes," their mother reminded them about eating breakfast. Callie nodded and her sister helped her off the counter so they could both go eat at the coffee table and watch Dora the Explorer. They both caked on the butter and drowned the pancakes with syrup, then dug in happily.

CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI

Cody kept stealing glances at Nick as they ate breakfast in the dining room the next morning. What he was looking for, he wasn't sure. Was there any hint that he remembered what they'd talked about last night? When he'd walked in on him looking at pictures of naked women on the Internet? Cody wished the whole thing had never happened. It was embarrassing, to say the least. He'd played it over in his head several times last night and this morning, wondering how he could be so stupid, and what Nick thought of him. Nick must think he was some kind of disgusting freak. Hopefully, he'd forgotten about it, but Cody doubted he was that lucky.

"Baby, you need to hurry up. You guys need to leave in ten minutes," his mother reminded him, causing him to jump a little. She reached over and gave his forearm a little reassuring squeeze, looking at him lovingly. Cody gave her a weak smile and picked his spoon back up. He'd been so lost in thought, he'd completely forgotten about eating. He wondered if Nick had told his mom about what he'd witnessed the night before. They seemed to tell each other everything else. If anything happened in this household, Cody could always count on both of them knowing about it. Like last year, when Jacob Harper put a bowl of pudding on his seat when he wasn't looking at lunch, and gotten it all over the back of his pants so it looked like poop. His mom had to come in to bring him new pants. He was horribly embarrassed, and he was sure she'd never tell anyone about it because she knew how humiliated he'd been. Only that night, Nick had come into his room and asked if he wanted to talk about it. Yea, even stuff like that they told each other. So now his mom probably knew he'd been looking at boobies, and she thought he was some kind of creep.

Nick took a sip of his coffee and then turned the newspaper to the next page. Cody had been acting a little spacey this morning, and hadn't been very talkative. He hoped he wasn't still uncomfortable about what had happened last night, though he could certainly understand why. Nick didn't want to embarrass him anymore, so he decided to drop the subject for now. He hadn't told Sara about it, and he still hadn't told her about Madeline wanting to move out. He wasn't quite sure what he was hoping to accomplish, keeping it from his wife, when that very night she wouldn't be coming home. Maybe he could talk to her more before then and she'd come to her senses. Nick supposed he had the whole day to think up what to say to his daughter, and how he was going to explain all this to his wife if it didn't work out.

"Dad, is Madeline picking me up from school today?"

Nick had been mid-swallow with his coffee, and the question involving Madeline caught him off guard. He coughed a little as he swallowed his drink down and used the back of his hand to wipe at the corner of his mouth. After school. Madeline had gymnastics practice, of course. Maybe he could stop by the gym and have a word with her, convince her to stay, and he wouldn't have to tell Sara her stepdaughter was moving out. It would devastate her, and that wouldn't be good for the baby. Nick hated this little manipulative game Maddie was playing with him. She knew he loved her, and she was using it to get her way. No, he wouldn't be giving in to her demands to see Gavin whenever she wanted.

"Umm…" he looked down into his coffee and scratched the back of his neck. "No, I think she's working on a project after school, so you better get a ride with Luke."

Nick couldn't believe he was lying to his own stepson about this. He guessed he was just hoping things would work out and he wouldn't have to face the fact he'd been responsible for driving his daughter out of their home. Not that he thought he was being unreasonable, but it was because she was upset with him. And it really irked him that Lauren was making the situation so much more unbearable. She knew this was killing him, and she was loving every minute of it.

Sara must have seen that her husband was worried about something, because the next moment, Nick felt her hand gently touching his face in concern. He gave her a small smile, letting her know everything was okay, then turned his head just a little to kiss her palm. "You okay, babe?" She asked him gently.

He nodded and winked at her. "Yeah. Just got lost in a thought," he explained it away as he stood up with his coffee mug. He began walking to the kitchen as he quickly downed the rest of it, and ruffled Cody's hair as he walked by. "Ready to go, bud?"

Cody shoveled one last spoonful of cereal into his mouth and stood up, and began to rush towards the living room to get his back pack. "Don't forget your bowl, Cody," Nick reminded him from the kitchen. He had a tendency to forget when he was in a rush, but Nick didn't want Sara doing any extra work than she had to. Cody ran back and picked up his bowl, and set it down in the sink. He rinsed it out quickly and then ran back to the living room. Nick found his keys on the counter and met Cody before he could rush out the garage door. He put his hand on his stepson's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Don't forget to kiss your mom goodbye," he reminded him, knowing Sara got a lot of joy out of these little things. Cody nodded and gave him mom a little peck on the cheek and told her he loved her. Soon, they were both out the door.

On the way to school, Nick couldn't help but notice that Cody was tapping his foot nervously, keeping his eyes pinned out the window. He'd continued to be standoffish as they'd ridden down the streets of Las Vegas to his elementary school. Nick hoped they hadn't reached a sore spot in their relationship. He'd obviously only raised a daughter so far, so he wasn't sure how secretive and embarrassed most boys were about…developing and sex. Nick made a mental note to call up his brother and sisters to ask about his nephews. He was pretty sure Cody was a little more uncomfortable than most kids. He was a bit awkward all around, and Nick feared it would only get worse once pre-adolescence set in. Honestly, Cody was the type of kid that he would pick on as a child. Not that he was proud of it. But he knew what Cody would be facing in middle school, and he would do his best to prepare him for how to respond.

"Are you okay, bud?" Nick finally asked after several minutes of uncomfortable silence. He wanted to have a good relationship with Cody. Well, they did have a good relationship, and he wanted to keep it that way. When Cody didn't answer, he glanced over and saw his stepson staring straight ahead, his eyes wide. "Cody?"

"I'm sorry I was looking at the boobies," he apologized out of the blue. Nick couldn't stop himself, and burst out laughing. Shocked, Cody turned his head to look at his stepfather. His face was red with laughter, and his right hand was covering his mouth in attempt to hide his amusement. "It's not funny."

"Nah…" Nick coughed and laughed, trying to compose himself, "No, I know, Cody. You just…man, I'm sorry." He chuckled again, rubbing at his chin. He had to admit, Cody was priceless sometimes.

"Do you think I'm disgusting?" He asked worriedly.

Nick looked over at him, and managed to knock off his laughing, because the kid was dead serious. "No, Cody," he assured him, "What you did was perfectly normal. Being curious about the opposite sex is part of growin' up. But that doesn't mean you should be lookin' at those websites. There's a minimum age for a reason."

"I just wanted to see what they look like under their clothes," Cody pointed out. "You're not gonna have me arrested are you?" He asked worriedly, remembering there had been a warning on several of the sites he'd been on. Cody didn't want Nick to hate him because he'd broken a law, seeing as he was in law enforcement and everything.

"Well, now you know, and no, I won't be arresting you. If we arrested every minor that went on a porn site, the prisons would be filled," Nick said, "And I expect you to stay off those sites, understand?"

Cody sighed. "Okayyy," he agreed, "Did you tell Mom?"

"No, man. I won't tell her," he said as he pulled into the drop off circle of Cody's elementary school. "But, I do want you to promise me that if you have questions from now on that you'll come to me, or some other adult you trust. Can you do that?"

Another loud sigh from the ten year old. "Fine. I'll try," he said, though he couldn't imagine asking Nick all the questions he wanted answers to. He already knew the plumbing and scientific stuff about it. All they showed them in school, though was black and white diagrams. He wanted to see what things really looked like. And what was it like to kiss a girl? He wanted to know all about grown up things. Somehow Cody knew that Nick wouldn't want to talk about these things with him, even though he'd offered. It was just the type of thing you had to figure out in private, Cody figured.

"Good boy," Nick told him as they came to a stop. "You have a good day, and don't forget to ride home with Luke. I'll call his mom."

Cody nodded and unbuckled, then got out the car. It was a relief to get away from the situation. Adults seemed to be able to throw around really awkward words with no problem – like sex and fallopian tubes and penis – and have no problem with it. If Cody even thought about those words, his face turned an embarrassing shade of red, and sometimes he had to laugh. Especially when his teacher started talking about testicles. It was just such a funny word, he couldn't help himself.

After Cody had left, Nick let out a big sigh and just shook his head, smirking. It was hard to remember what life was like as a ten year old, but to him Cody's thought process was quite amusing. As he pulled away from the school, however, he again began to worry about his oldest. He was pretty sure Madeline understood why he didn't want her around Gavin all the time, and she was just being stubborn. Nick got that she was really into her boyfriend and wanted to spend as much time with him as she could, but she had little personal time to work with. Sometimes he wondered how much easier life would be if she wasn't a gymnast. He quickly dismissed the thought, because he knew she'd never want to give it up.

CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI

Later that day, Madeline realized all her workout clothes were still at her father's house, so she quickly had to go home to find something decent to practice in. Quickly putting her car in park in the driveway, she rushed inside, past her little brother watching television in the living room, and snagged a leo and some shorts from her dresser. It looked like they'd been freshly laundered and put away for her, probably Sara's doing. That would be the last time she'd have her clothes washed and put away for her, because her mother had stopped doing that for her when she was ten. She sighed and quickly shoved the items into a gym bag, and then rushed back down the stairs.

Cody looked up at his sister from the couch. "What time are you coming home tonight?"

Madeline squinted her eyes at her brother as she grabbed a granola bar from the cupboard. "I'm not," she said, "Didn't Dad tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Cody was oblivious. Madeline wondered what the hell her father was up to.

"I'm gonna live with my mom for a while," she slung her bag over her shoulder and took a bite of her bar, wondering what her brother thought about all this. He usually acted like he didn't care too much about what she did, but it looked like he was in thought, pondering what all this meant.

"Oh," he said a few moments later. "Okay."

Madeline didn't have time to have a long conversation with him so she made sure she had all her stuff and started to cross the room. "I'll be around later to get more of my stuff. See ya."

CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI

Meanwhile, Sara and Nick were both working at the lab, but on different cases. Sara had been assigned to a vicious rape case. The woman had survived, thankfully, but had been pretty worked up and upset, understandably. When Nick found out that his wife had been assigned the case, he offered to switch her, but Sara didn't relent. Her husband was the only person who knew about her rape all those years ago, and she most certainly didn't want anyone at the lab to know about it and feel sorry for her.

No matter how hard she tried to block her own rape out of her mind, after talking to the victim, it was useless. She was having awful flashbacks to that night, almost eleven years ago now, when she was attacked. With all her raging hormones because of her pregnancy, she was on the brink of losing it. She knew she should go take a break, or asked to be assigned to another case, but being Sara, it was out of the question. She had a job to do; to speak for the victim and get this bastard caught, and she couldn't let her emotions get in the way.

Standing in the evidence room, Sara examined photos of the victim, and ran her fingers along the blue bruises on her neck. The picture was meant to capture the injuries, but she couldn't help but shift her focus up to the woman's eyes. Her innocence had been stolen; she'd been violated in the worst possible way, and though time would help, she would never be the person she was before. Sara stared into her terrified, teary eyes and felt tears of her own stinging, threatening to spill over. She bit her lip and almost screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright," Nick told her calmly, giving her shoulder a supportive squeeze, "It's just me." He glanced down to see what she was looking at and sighed. Nick really wished she would admit this was too hard for her, and ask for another case. Grissom would understand. "You okay?"

Sara tried to compose herself, but she knew it wasn't any use. Nick had seen how much this was tearing her up. Now he was going to be overly concerned about her, and he'd check on her constantly. It was really sweet and supportive for him to be so concerned about her, but sometimes Sara just wanted her space to deal with the memories. This happened every time there was a rape case.

"I'm fine, Nick. Do you need something?" She quickly tried to change the subject.

Nick shook his head and gently rubbed her back. "No, I just came to check on you," he didn't lie about why he was there. "Are you sure you don't wanna ask Grissom to switch your case? It isn't worth getting all worked up about."

If Nick wasn't sure she'd be pissed at his suggestion, her body language and response convinced him. She turned to him, hands on her hips and glared at him. Didn't he realize that when he said stuff like that, he was making her a victim all over again? Her rapist hadn't taken away her ability to do her job. He'd taken her sense of security, and she wasn't going to let him have anything else, especially eleven years after the fact. "No," she said quite firmly, "I really wish you stop asking me, Nick. Yes, it's hard, but I can do it."

Nick knew his wife well enough not to push her on this. He wished she would reconsider, but he didn't know how she felt. A long time ago, Nick had made the decision to trust Sara about how she felt involving rape cases, and not hound her on it. He didn't see how she did it, but she did. Nick looked into her eyes and held her gaze for several moments to see if she would back down, but she wasn't. He nodded his head and looked down for a moment. "Okay," he whispered. "But if it gets too much…"

She finished for him before he even had a chance. "I'll stop and take a break." Sara allowed herself a small smile. She felt a little bad for snapping at her husband when he brought up her feelings. He did love her, after all, and she was totally in love with him. It wasn't the worst thing in the world to have Nick looking out for her. "I'm sorry if I was short with you. I just don't want it to affect my job."

"I know," he leaned forward and kissed her forehead protectively. "I'm sorry if I kept pushing you about it."

Sara's cell phone rang, so Nick pulled away as Sara took it off its holder on her hip. The caller ID told her it was Cody, so she picked up right away. "Hey, baby, what's up?"

"Mom, I don't want Madeline to move out!" He cried immediately into the phone, distraught over the news that Maddie planned to live with her mother for a while. Sure, he liked to annoy her. That was in his job description as her little brother, but that didn't mean he really wanted her to leave.

However, Sara knew nothing of her stepdaughter's plans of moving out, and immediately looked at her husband. He was oblivious to what was going on, so he just looked over the evidence Sara had been processing. "What are you talking about, Cody? Maddie's not going anywhere."

Sara's eyes were still on her husband, so she didn't miss the deer in the headlights look that flashed across his face. Obviously, he knew something about this rumor Madeline was moving out.

"But she said she was when she came back to get her stuff," Cody explained worriedly. It sure didn't look like she was bluffing. Sara raised an eyebrow at her husband.

"Let's see if your father knows anything about it," Sara said into the phone, before taking it away from her ear and resting it against her shoulder. She just looked at Nick and waited for an explanation. "Nick?"

Nick ran one of his hands through his hair and let out a breath, wishing he'd thought of something reasonable to say. He hadn't, and now he was going to have to tell Sara the news. What was she going to think? Would she think he'd driven Maddie away?

"Uh…when I went to Lauren's last night, Madeline was pretty angry with me. And she…well, she decided she wants to live at her mom's for a while. I tried to talk her out of it, but it's just something she seems to want to do."

Nick braced himself, watching his wife's mouth open and close, but not being able to form words. This wasn't good. "She…she wants to move out?"

Nick had to look away from her hurt, devastated eyes. He cleared his throat a little and nodded, ashamed that he couldn't get Madeline to say; ashamed that he'd kept the whole thing from his wife and stepson. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I thought maybe if I talked to Maddie today after she cooled down, I could,"

Before Nick could explain any further, Sara just gave him a hurt look and walked past him, towards the break room.


End file.
